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SUMMER16: Economic Crisis: A Brief history of time

Course content

As the aftermath of the global financial crisis rumbles on, the
attention of politicians has been focussed squarely on narrow
issues of economic policy, and on trying to reconstruct routes to
economic growth in the wake of the worst recession since the Great
Depression. Whilst this latter crisis is often invoked as a direct
comparator, few commentators connect the dots in more meaningful
ways between the current crisis and its historical and societal
precursors. This summer school will therefore encourage students to
reflect more deeply on the different dimensions of the current
crisis, first providing rigorous introductory teaching to the
overlapping issues encapsulated in the current crisis (within the
economy, governance and society) before broadening this temporally
and theoretically to invite students to think critically about what
crisis means.

The course will take place over a period of two weeks,
from app. 09.30 to 16.00 each day. Of this time, formal
classes will take place between 09.30-14.30, with the remaining
session allocated for group work, homework preparation, and
individual support with the assignments. Week 1 introduces an
historical overview of past crises, together with some of the key
theoreticians who have analysed and defined those crises. The
second week uses a series of themes to encourage students question
what we mean by crisis in the global economy, and provoke deeper
analysis of the ‘work’ done by the term.

A key driving force behind the programme is the desire to build
a curriculum around active learning techniques that require
students to participate just as actively as the lecturer.
Therefore, the structure of the programme is designed to be fluid
and to build in space for students to direct their own learning and
draw out themes and topics that they find particularly interesting.
Each day will have some kind of applied case study or task that
requires students to think on their feet about the subject.

Competency description

This course will give students a firm grasp of the dynamics
underpinning contemporary crises across different sectors of
political economy. As such, they will be well equipped to
critically evaluate claims made about the nature of the
contemporary economy, and this knowledge and scepticism will serve
students well in a range of endeavours. Within political science,
it would serve as an excellent foundation for further study in
international political economy (IPE), but also more broadly to
engage with many contemporary political issues that are expressed
in terms of crisis, such as migration, welfare state policy, or
education. As such, this course will also provide a strong
introduction for students looking to build careers in international
organisations, government, the media, or politics.

In addition, the first week will comprise reading several
‘classic’ books in advance. Students would be well advised to
obtain library copies of these books and familiarise themselves
with them before the start of the course. These are:

Keynes, the General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money
(various editions)

Galbraith, the Great Crash 1929 (Penguin, London, 2009)

Polanyi, the Great Transformation (Beacon Press, Boston 2001,
also available online)

Friedman, Capitalism and Freedom (Chicago Press, Chicago,
2002)

Stiglitz, Joseph: ‘Freefall: America, Free Markets, and the
Sinking of the World Economy’ (Penguin, London, 2010)

This course will be taught by staff from the political science
department, but is open to students from a wide range of
subdisciplines. A background in economics, sociology, history,
geography or anthropology would all provide valuable insights, and
as such a background in political science is not expected. Students
should be interested in the current global financial crisis, and
have some familiarity with the key events and actors, although a
familiarity gained through news broadcasts and secondary reading is
more than sufficient.